Automatic car wash lines are now widely employed as fast and convenient means of washing automobiles. A particular problem with automatic car wash equipment is providing some means for satisfactorily cleaning vehicle tires effectively with a minimal amount of cleaning fluid. This problem is aggravated by the great variance in the widths of vehicles that may be expected to travel down automatic car wash lines. The prior art in tire spray cleaning systems is exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,419,022; 3,537,423; 3,587,807; 3,593,726; 3,604,433; 3,667,486; 3,670,743; 3,679,134; 3,915,179; and 4,178,948.
The present invention provides a tire spray cleaning system which does not require cleaning fluid pumps or electric controls, and thus reduces system cost and maintenance. One of the features of the present invention is that it conserves spray cleaning fluid by utilizing a fluid discharge container to limit the maximum amount of cleaning fluid discharged during a cleaning cycle to the amount of cleaning fluid required to fill the cleaning fluid discharge container prior to commencement of the cleaning cycle. Tire spray cleaning efficiency is further increased through utilization of a floating valve assembly, located within the fluid discharge container, as a means of preventing the cleaning fluid supply lines from being blown empty of cleaning fluid during a cleaning cycle, thus keeping the lines prepared for immediate spraying of the next tire to be cleaned. Automatic adjustment of the distance of the tire spray cleaning nozzles from tires on vehicles of varying widths is achieved by mounting the nozzles on automatically extendable pneumatic cylinders.